Besan and Oats Chilla aka Savory Pancake

 (From Banu's Cookbook)

Besan Chilla or Puda is not a new recipe. But I just changed a few things in this recipe to suit me and thus posting it here. 

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Besan aka Chickpea Flour

1/2 Cup Oat Flour

1 Tbsp of Chia Seeds 

1 Egg

1 inch Ginger

2-3 Green Chillies or per your taste

1 Large Roma Tomato

1 Cucumber Grated

1 Large carrot Grated

1/2 of Large Red Onion Chopped finely

Handful of Cilantro chopped finely

1 tsp of Tumeric

1 tsp of Cumin Powder

1 tsp of Jaggery powder or brown sugar

Salt to taste

Oil for cooking

1 to 1 1/4 cups of water

Method:

1. In my Vitamix blender, I blended the egg, water, both the flours, tomato, ginger, turmeric, cumin and salt well until there were no lumps left in the batter.

2. I poured the batter into a bowl. To this I added the grated cucumber, carrot, chopped red onion and Cilantro. 

3. I added the Jaggery powder and added a bit more water to make it thick yet pouring consistency. 

4. Heat a nonstick pan and spread some oil on it. Spread the batter as thinly as you can. Cook it well on both sides on medium heat. It will take some time, but it will get cooked well and become crispy.

5. Serve it hot with some pickle and yogurt. 

Notes:

1. You can add Rolled oats - instead of oat flour, the batter will be a bit more textured as the rolled oats will not be super smooth. 

2. You can add other vegetables like spring onions, grated zucchini, bell peppers etc. The more veggies you add, it might be harder to spread it thin. So chop the veggies as thin as you can. 

3. If the chilla or pancake is spread thin, it will become nice and crispy and not soggy and gooey. That is the key and plus the heat is critical. Do not cook it on high heat. 

4. You can skip the egg if you want to keep it Vegan and instead add some nut butters like almond or peanut butter. It will taste very well too and still give you some additional protein.

5. You can do roll up omlette style with these pancakes with avocados in the middle. 

6. You can serve it some chutney or curry too. 

7. You can skip chia seeds or add some flax seeds if you prefer it or flax meal.

Oats and Poha Chivda

 (From Banu's Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 Cup of Old Fashioned Rolled Oats

1 Cup of Thin Poha Flakes

1/2 cup of Peanuts

1/4 cup of Almonds (whole skinned)

1/4 cup of Broken Cashewnuts

1/4 cup of Roasted Bengal Gram Daal

1/4 Cup of Dry Coconut Slices

3-4 Red Chilies

8-10 Curry Leaves

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

Salt to Taste

Olive Oil for Sautéing - About 2 Tbsp

1/4 - 1/2 Tsp of Amchur Powder

1/4 - 1/2 Tsp of Chaat Powder

1/2 tsp of Red Chili powder (or more per your taste)

1 Pkt of Stevia in Raw

1/4 Tsp of less Hing

1/4 Tsp of Turmeric Powder (Optional)

Method:

1. Heat a pan on low to medium heat and roast the rolled oats until they become crisp. They also start changing color slightly and also you can start smelling them. Roast them well on low heat (patience) until they are crisp. You can crunch them with your fingers. Set them aside.

2. In the same pan, roast the poha flakes. I have used the thin flakes, you can use a bit thicker one too. Roast them in low/medium heat until you start to see them brown slightly. Set aside.

3. Clean the pan out of all debris, wipe it down and and heat the 2bsp oil. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds. As the mustard seeds crackle, add the curry leaves, red chillies and Hings. Saute for a few seconds. Add the dried sliced of coconut and all the nuts and roast them well on medium heat. If you feel like something is burning - you can reduce the heat some more. 

4. Once all of these are roasted well (peanuts will start peeling skin when it is well roasted),  add the poha and oats to this mixture. Add turmeric powder, salt, stevia packet and all the spice powders. Mix well but gently. You do not want to break the oats and poha too much. Do wide sweeps to mix it well. If you feel like the mixture is too dry, you can add a bit more olive oil. 

5. Reduce the heat to lowest setting as you mix the Chivda together. Taste and adjust Salt and Stevia powder as needed. 

6. Switch off the heat and let it cool and come to room temperature and Oats/Poha Chivda is ready to be had with a cup of hot tea or coffee. 

Notes:

1. Almonds being meatier of all the nuts takes the longest to roast. So, if you want super crunchy almonds, Roast them separately well and then add it in the end before the spice powders and mix it well,

2, You can add plain sugar or raw sugar or cane sugar or organic sugar instead of the Stevia. I just did not want to add Sugar. You would have to experiment with these - start with less and add more as needed. 

3. You can add raisins too, but I do not like the raisins when they are fried or sautéed, so I did not add them. 

4. I will experiment with Walnuts and Pecans next time and keep you posted.

5. You can do this just with Oats and skip Poha if you want. 

6. Turmeric powder is optional. 

Almond, Oats and Chia Seeds Laddu

 (From Banu's Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Fine Almond Flour

1/2 Cup of Old Fashioned Rolled Oats

1/4 cup of Cashew Nuts

10-12 Whole Skinned Almonds

1 Tbsp of Chia Seeds

1 Tbsp of Ghee (Optional)

2 Tbsp of Almond Butter

1 Tbsp of Honey

1/2 Tsp of Ground Cinnamon powder

1/2 Tsp of Cardamom Powder

Method:

1. Dry Roast the Old Fashioned Oats, Cashew nuts and whole skinned almonds on medium to medium-low heat until they are golden brown. You can start smelling the cashews and oats. Set it aside to cool.

2. In the same pan, add 3/4 tbsp of Ghee and 1/2 cup of Almond flour and roast it well until it is aromatic - about 3-4 minutes. Set it aside. 

3. Coarsely grind the roasted oats, cashew nuts and almonds in a food processor. It would be nice to get bits of cashew and almonds when you bite into the laddu.

4. Mix the ground oats and nuts mixture with the roasted almond flour mixture. To this add the Almond Butter and Honey, Chia Seeds, Cinnamon powder and cardamom powder. You can add a pinch of Himalayan pink salt too.

5. Mix it all well and then grease your hands lightly with the remaining 1/4 tbsp of Ghee and make small balls out of this mixture. You have to press hard when forming the balls and then roll them lightly in the palm of your hands to get the round shape. 

6. If you feel like the balls are not holding well together or breaking - keep them in the Refrigerator for a couple of hours after making them so that they can harden. Well mostly, honey and almond butter and any oils from the nuts harden thus creating a good bind. 

7. You can serve them cold or bring it out to room temperature and then service. 

The laddus were very well formed. Not crumbling at all. Had a good texture and enough sweetness. Hope you try this out. Let me know how it came out or what modifications did you make...Thanks. 

Notes:

1. You can add Crushed dates instead of Honey/Almond Butter to give this some sweetness. 

2. You can also add Flax seeds / Flax seed meal along with the rest of the ingredients.

3. You can add raisins to give some more sweetness and moisture.

4. You can also add Vanilla Essence and/or Maple Syrup (Maple Sugar / Jaggery) - to get the sweetness in this dish.